In a famous article in an October 1960 edition of _The New Yorker,_ marking the final game of the illustrious career of Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams, John Updike referred to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, as a “lyric little bandbox.” For some reason, it was that beautiful description of a storied old sporting venue that kept recurring in my mind as I wandered around the Richmond International Raceway infield for the first time this past weekend. It truly is a beautiful venue for stock car racing and on a picture perfect evening, to boot.
If you’re wondering about the baseball reference, especially if you know I’m a Brit and given you’ve clicked on a NASCAR article, I arrived in Manhattan on the night of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series and couldn’t understand (having never seen a game before) how you could win it all on a Luis Gonzalez “bloop” single off the great Mariano Rivera.